What Does Hard Work Mean To You?

Are you working hard or hardly working?

You’ve heard it time and time again: hard work is a prerequisite for success. From successful athletes to entrepreneurs, everyone who has achieved greatness highlights their hard work when given a chance.

But what does hard work mean? Is it when you work for 10 to 16 hours 6 days a week, or when you lift heavy objects for a living and get toned muscles in the process? Let’s talk about this.

What Is Hard Work?

The dictionary provides a clear definition of the phrase 'hard work': a great deal of effort or endurance. When something requires not just effort, but a great deal of it coupled with endurance, it is equal to hard work.

Naturally, everything requires time, but the definition of hard work only highlights the intensity of effort. So, whatever requires effort and endurance, regardless of how long it takes, is hard work. If that’s correct, hard work can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. If you exert your focus, willpower, strength, and endurance on a task, you’re working hard.

Hard Work and Diligence

The book of Proverbs mentions how diligent men will stand before kings and not before ordinary men. So, not just people who work hard, but those who are diligent. What does it mean to be diligent?

Diligence is careful and persistent work or effort. Careful describes intentionality, so you’re not working without thought. You care about the details, you care about delivering the best possible value, and the quality of your results.

Persistence describes tenacity and willpower so the ability to push forward despite difficulties, uncertainties, and even failures. If there are no issues, there would be no reason to persist, would there?

Let’s paint a more vivid picture

Imagine you started a business selling paintings because it was your dream to beautify homes with customized paintings, and potentially tap into a wealthy client base.

Hard work would look like taking on personal painting projects to demonstrate your skill, pitching to prospects, advertising your products, and improving your marketing strategies.

Diligence would look like finding the best way to approach all these tasks and repeating them for years and years.

By being careful, you’d be intentional about correcting errors and taking feedback from clients to evolve. Persistence demands that you perform your regular activities in the face of rejection from prospects, negative feedback, and complaints from customers.

Even when you experience growth and success, being diligent means that you maintain the same and aim for higher levels of quality in your work.

How To Be Diligent in Hard Work

After looking at both terms and their meaning, I’ve concluded that it’s best to be diligent in hard work.

Here are some tips to help with that:

Right motivation and mindset

I could use myself as an example, but let’s stick with our fictional painter. We’ll call her Sapphire. Sapphire has a dream that’s motivating her to pursue painting.

She isn’t being forced or cajoled to do so by external influences; it’s what she genuinely desires for herself. In addition to this motivation, she needs the right mindset. The belief that she can do it can further fuel her passion to put in the work and get desirable results.

Long-term vs short-term outcome

Diligent people consider long-term outcomes over short-term relief. They prioritize sustainability, client relationships, and loyalty. This means that their actions today are not solely inspired by instant gain, but by consistent and recurring results.

Sapphire wants to tap into a wealthy client base. That’s her strategy to build generational wealth. Building a track record of consistent excellence and a good name is paramount to achieving her goal. Do you want to be a diligent person? Prioritize integrity, excellence, and long-term relationships with your community and customers.

Overcoming challenges

Challenges will always come. And if you fail in the time of adversity, well, your strength is weak (quoting the good book here). When you’re a visionary like Sapphire, you need the inner strength and will to overcome challenges when they arise.

First, it starts with a decision. “I’m going to do the work to win at this”. It’s followed by actions, showing up daily to do the work and joining a community of like-minded people who encourage and inspire you. Finally, it’s sealed with consistency and persistence, the ability to keep showing up with determination, even when the circumstances aren’t smiling at you.

Seek feedback and pursue improvement

I’m speaking to myself too, but especially at this point. Feedback can come off as a personal attack, but it points to areas for potential improvement. Unless the person is just being rude or condescending, take the feedback to heart.

Implement necessary corrections to enhance your performance and the other party’s satisfaction. Also, don’t cut corners or embrace complacency. Is there a better way to do something? Do it. Is there a way you can upskill? Go ahead!

Flexibility and adaptability

You’ll meet and serve different kinds of people. Technology keeps advancing, and new tools arise that will make your work easier, faster, and better. Learn to get with the times.

Maintain an open and flexible attitude to learning new things and handling the different people you come across. When Sapphire encounters a difficult client and demonstrates patience, or discovers a new in-demand painting technique and learns it, she’s being flexible and adaptable.

Goal setting

Be strategic with goal setting. Don’t just write your wishes on paper; craft out a plan and a list of routine activities you’ll consistently perform. Use effective goal-setting strategies to ensure that you’re maximizing your chances of hitting your goals. Sapphire's plan when she starts her business can look like working on 3 personal projects every month, painting for 3-4 hours six days a week, promoting business on social media, and in person. etc.,

Finally, Beloved Reader

So, are you working hard or hardly working? Also, are you diligent in your work? We have no control over specific outcomes, but to a large extent, we control what we do. Good things take time to build, and it’s important to know that everyone’s path and experience will always differ. Focus on your path, bringing your dreams to reality by being diligent in hard work. I want to be among the best writers in the world! Haha, well, I must work like one.